General Motors (GM) Works on Organization & Leadership Change

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General Motors GM has announced that it is setting up an organization called Commercial Growth Strategies and Operations to boost profitability as it ramps up efforts to switch gears to electric. The organization will be led by GM veteran executive Steve Hill who has been the vice president of Chevrolet since November 2019.

The new group will be responsible for GM Fleet, U.S. Sales Operations and EV Retail Innovation teams. It will work across GM’s brands to focus on vehicle sales and bolster new business and revenues.

Hill’s able leadership saw Chevrolet launching several important products like the Corvette C8 and Bolt EUV, an SUV styling of the EV. It also unveiled 2024 Silverado EV, the first all-electric pickup from Chevrolet in January. However, Hill had to battle challenges of the global recall of the 2017-22 Bolt EVs and EUVs for potential fire risk. Despite this, the silver lining is that the Orion Assembly Plant, which builds the Bolt and has been non-functional since late last year, is scheduled to restart production on Apr 4.

GM has named Scott Bell to replace Hill as vice president of Global Chevrolet. Bell is currently president and managing director of GM Canada.

Bell has been proactive in undertaking significant investments in Canadian manufacturing operations. These include the reopening of Oshawa Assembly in Ontario to develop pickups and converting CAMI Assembly, Canada’s first large-scale EV plant, to produce BrightDrop’s electric delivery vans.

Marissa West, currently GM’s executive chief engineer for global midsize truck, medium-duty truck and van, will substitute Bell at GM Canada.

These leadership changes will be effective from Apr 1, 2022.

The company looks to double its annual revenues by 2030, with the lion’s share coming from its upcoming EVs, startup BrightDrop electric delivery trucks and OnStar Insurance and future software. The new appointments are expected to steer the company in that direction.

GM’s shares have lost 21% over the past year against the industry’s 22.9% rise.

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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

GM currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked players in the auto space include Harley-Davidson HOG, LCI Industries LCII and Tesla TSLA, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), currently. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Harley-Davidson has an expected earnings growth rate of 2.2% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has been revised around 28.1% upward in the past 60 days.

Harley-Davison’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters. HOG pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 77.6%, on average. The stock has gained 4.2% over the past year.

LCI Industries has an expected earnings growth rate of 26.7% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised around 15% upward in the past 60 days.

LCI Industries’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the same in one. LCII pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 12.9%, on average. The stock has declined 22.8% over the past year.

Tesla has an expected earnings growth rate of 42.3% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised around 4.5% upward in the past 60 days.

Tesla’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all of the trailing four quarters. TSLA pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 33.3%, on average. The stock has risen 71.7% over the past year.

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